


amidst the silent crowd

by kanatashi



Category: H.O.T. (Band)
Genre: First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, midnight trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 08:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18617152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanatashi/pseuds/kanatashi
Summary: jaehoon, a workaholic whose life goes through the same routine every day, meets woohyuk, who's young and willing to show him a new feeling in life.





	amidst the silent crowd

_ Hannam to Daegok; 1 hour 8 minutes _

 

The smooth sound of the train slowing down, all comes down to Jaehoon’s ears, whose holding  an empty cup of coffee in his hand at 2 A.M in Gyeonggi, dazed from the bright lights above him, unlike the soft yellow street lights he passed through earlier. 

He should’ve gotten another coffee when he had the chance, because the moment he throws the cup into the trash can, Jaehoon is ready to fall asleep even before the train he has to go on comes.

He sees the familiar train approaching at first a while later, the sight sinking into him as he’s done this for almost a year and he can’t be fucking bothered to care about when it comes, only that he has to get on it every night at the same time. It’s the same routine every night.

The train eventually stops, and like every time, the doors open with an obnoxious sound in front of Jaehoon.

He steps onto it, taking the first seat at his right before leaning his head sideways and arms folded. It was too late for him to care about his image.

There’s a handful of businessmen at the end of the train cart, but it’s always the same kind of people to Jaehoon. Same suits, same day-to-day personalities. He’s one of them too, an overworking lonely old man whose diet consists of instant food from the convenience store.

The train had the same old blue colour to it, the one that keeps you awake for how non-soothing it is.

It’s only when he turns his head that he sees another person stepping on the train that cuts off his thoughts, just right before the train doors closed is when the person stepped on.

_ Oh, it’s a newcomer,  _ Jaehoon thinks when he catches a glimpse of the stranger’s face, who seems ready to pass out any moment now, with only a briefcase in his hand.

The person grips the grab rail beside Jaehoon’s seat while panting and not even noticing Jaehoon at all, only to let go of the grab rail once the train starts moving.

It’s only when the person turns to the seat Jaehoon’s sitting on that they make eye contact. 

His mouth turns into a surprised ‘o’ and Jaehoon lets out a laugh.

“Your first time on a night train?” He asks, always getting a laugh out of newcomers with overworking who are ready to pass out once they clock out. 

The boy flushes red under the bright lights on the ceiling of the train.

He silently sits on the opposite seating, right in front of Jaehoon before hesitantly answering.

“Yeah, It’s the first time I have...overworked, actually.” He says bashfully looking down to his lap, shifting a bit and gaining Jaehoon’s attention more by the second.

“The newcomers are always the best to see,” Jaehoon smiles. “Always ready to pass out despite having 5 cups of coffee an hour earlier.”

The guy frowns. “You’re mocking me.” 

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” Jaehoon answers, giving him a cocky smile. 

The man in front of him huffs, folding his arms and looks away from Jaehoon. “I guess everyone who ends up overworking becomes pervy flirts at 2 A.M.” 

Jaehoon acts shocked. “Me?” He asks, pointing at himself.

“Don’t act surprised,” The guy snorts mockingly like Jaehoon.

The subway walls disappear around the train, and behind the guy, Jaehoon could see the starry night sky and the dark buildings, a few flickering with light.

Jaehoon doesn’t see much, but it’s enough for him to admire the view like he does every night.

“Pretty,” Jaehoon mumbles, looking out the window.

Only to see the guy from a few moments ago face flush deep red. 

Oh.  _ Oh. _

Jaehoon doesn’t say anything, as the guy looks away from him in obvious embarrassment. It’s even more embarrassing to himself since he didn’t even mean it towards the guy in front of him.

The guy laughs instead after a moment, meeting eyes with Jaehoon in a happy manner. “Thanks,” he answers. “I’m not used to be called pretty.”

“Oh.” Jaehoon quickly replies. “Then, you should get used to it more often. You’re pretty.”

At this time around Jaehoon is pretty sure that the guys at the end of the train cart are blatantly disgusted by the obvious flirting made by the old man himself. 

Even if he didn’t mean it, it was nice seeing someone becoming shy and flattered by his words.

“I’m probably not as attractive as you think, Mister. I always put on concealer before I go to work.” 

“Concealer?” Jaehoon questions. “I also use makeup, but it’s probably gone at this point of the day.”

The guy laughs. “Same here, I guess.”

They stay silent after that, Jaehoon finally leaning his head on the corner separating the train doors and him, feeling the vibrations of the train, but it’s  _ so so  _ peaceful and quiet, even the men at the end of the train cart quieting their small chattering.

Jaehoon could see the guy in front of him look at him if it’s of curiosity or of general interest, he doesn’t know but he kind of likes it, that an attractive stranger who’ll he probably only see once in his lifetime is looking at him with a small smile on their face.

Jaehoon only has his eyes half open for a while, the thoughts of soft piano playing in his ears lulling him to sleep. He’s usually not the one to sleep during his ride home, the sounds disturbing him too much, too cold for him, but it seems to pull him in. 

Maybe it’s because of the presence of a person that he could actually freely talk to, instead of going to a cold home with a lonely air to it that makes him actually  _ want  _ to sleep.

It doesn’t take long until Jaehoon half awakes, and it feels like he’s barely slept, but it’s only from a slight shiver from something warmer that made his eyes open to darkness. 

It takes a couple of blinks to realize the darkness is actually a person standing there. Jaehoon slowly pushes his body up, feeling how something draped over him falling off. 

He feels the jacket under his fingers, looking up to the handsome stranger who met his eyes and smiled at him.

“It looked like you were cold.” He says with a hint of shyness in his voice.

“Ah.,” Jaehoon says awkwardly. A handsome stranger helping him out? At nearly 3 A.M in Seoul? Even Jaehoon wouldn’t believe it. “Thank you. How long was I asleep?” 

“Only for about 20 minutes, don’t worry about it.” He says to Jaehoon, checking his clock.

“There’s still half an hour until the train stops at Daegok,” Jaehoon sighs sadly, wishing he could’ve slept the ride away.

“It’s better for you to sleep at home,” He says, not saying anything about his jacket still draped over Jaehoon. “Or else I would’ve ended up carrying you home after getting an address from you.”

“You’re awfully blatant for someone I just met half an hour ago,” Jaehoon laughs, and the guy smiles sweetly at him.

“I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for helping people.” He says casually. 

“That’s sweet,” Jaehoon replies. “But it would look weird for you carry an old man around.”

“Old man? I need a name at least.” The guy cheekily says.

“I’m Jaehoon.” He says.

“Oh, you told me your actual name? I’m Woohyuk. Jang Woohyuk.” The man laughs. 

_ Woohyuk _ .

“You have a pretty name, along with a pretty face.” Jaehoon comments.

Woohyuk laughs again. “You seem to like flattering people.”

Jaehoon could feel his face flush a bit red. “I guess... I like making people happy from my flattering comments.”

“That’s okay, I know many people who like flattering comments.”

Jaehoon doesn’t say anything after that, knowing it’s better to stay awake for the rest of the trip than to embarrass himself in front of Woohyuk.

He’s already fucked up with multiple relationships like this, so he doesn’t want to add another one to the list.

Even with Woohyuk’s jacket over his upper body, Jaehoon felt cold with the silence between them. 

The train passes by another station, though Jaehoon doesn’t bother looking at the red text on the announcement board to know where he is, the announcer lady’s voice cutting through the train, despite the train only passing by the stations. 

It’s one-way home to Daegok after all. 

He could see Woohyuk slightly fidgeting, probably having a lot on his mind as he met Jaehoon’s eyes a few minutes later, and Jaehoon feels guilty.

Standing up, he approaches Woohyuk.

“Here’s your jacket,” Jaehoon shyly takes it off and hands it to him. “Thank you for sharing it with me.” 

Woohyuk stares at him for a few seconds, before rendering what Jaehoon has just said to him and takes his jacket slowly.

“It’s becoming colder these days,” Woohyuk looks out the window, seeing the brown leaves on the trees nearby. “You should take a thicker jacket with you to work.” 

“I haven’t bought a jacket yet,” Jaehoon says. “I’ve been working too much.” 

A quiet moment passes, and Jaehoon settles to sit back on his seat again.

“Take your time to buy one someday soon,” Woohyuk reassuringly says, giving a small smile to Jaehoon. “It’s still not too late.”

“Thanks,” Jaehoon smiles back.

Another wave of silence hits the train, obviously by Jaehoon’s awkwardness and Woohyuk looking like he doesn’t know what to say.

Jaehoon lets it become like that for a while, just looking out the window beside Woohyuk, once in a while looking at the bright white clock that was on the train’s screen.

_ 02:46 _

“Why don’t you buy one with me?”

Jaehoon could hear his neck snap to look at Woohyuk with obvious surprise on his face. He could feel his face becoming too warm when he registers the words. It’s the first time in years he’s gotten such an offer. 

“W-Why?” Jaehoon asks with a shaky voice and Woohyuk laughs. The feeling of his heart beating slightly faster makes Jaehoon dizzy and he forces himself to look away.

“Why not? When I was ready to carry you home because looking at your face a bit more isn’t that bad, you question why?” Woohyuk tilts his head to try to make eye contact with Jaehoon.

Jaehoon bursts out in laughter. “You’re such a liar.” 

Woohyuk laughs at his comment and puts his hand on Jaehoon’s head. “What’s the problem? Two single handsome men, both too much of a workaholic to find a wife, would be perfect for each other!”

Jaehoon could see Woohyuk smiling brightly at him, and he also smiles, from the ridiculousness of the situation. How could a complete stranger, who he met only an hour ago, suggest they get together for an activity.

“I bet you don’t even live in Goyang,” Jaehoon replies after calming down from the overwhelming feeling of happiness. “You live in Paju somewhere.”

Woohyuk gasps. “I thought you were the one living in Paju! You mean you’re living close to me?”

Jaehoon could feel Woohyuk’s hand slightly touching his thigh, and he took a deep breath. 

“We could be neighbours for all we know,” Jaehoon replies with a relaxed face and he could feel the conversation dying from his comment.

The train slows down when silence approaches them, and the distant voice of a woman announcing the stop reaches his ears. Jaehoon stands up along with Woohyuk. One of the men from the end of the train also stands up, and Jaehoon could feel the suspicious eyes on them from him.

“Let’s go!” Woohyuk says cheerfully, despite having the darkest eyebags Jaehoon have ever seen on his face. Jaehoon nods, following Woohyuk out from the train.

Jaehoon’s pretty sure he’s in heaven when he feels Woohyuk’s fingers holding onto the end of Jaehoon’s shirt sleeve when they’re walking up the subway stairs. There are barely any people around them, and he feels woozy from the fact that Woohyuk’s doing it in public. 

It’s barely been an hour and Jaehoon feels infatuated by this handsome stranger. He willingly gets dragged to wherever the other man wants them to be with a light-headed feeling.

It’s only when they get to the front of a building when Woohyuk stops. 

“Sorry…” He starts saying. “For dragging you to my apartment building. I figured it was closer and I didn’t want you passing out on the way home to yours.”

Jaehoon regains himself a bit and shakes his head. “It’s fine. But is it really okay if I crash at your place? We barely know each other.”

Woohyuk smirks. “But..” He leans into Jaehoon’s ear. “Isn’t that what happens between two healthy men?”

Jaehoon feels his eyes widen at the words and didn’t realize his position until it was too late to notice.  _ Woohyuk wants him.  _

“Only if you’re up to buying a coat with me,” Jaehoon says and Woohyuk laughs. 

“Whatever you say, Jaehoon,” He playfully smiles and they walk up to the third floor together, Jaehoon behind him.

It’s only when they lock the apartment door behind them that Woohyuk kisses him. The heavenly feeling comes back to Jaehoon when they laugh together on the way to the bedroom, feeling happiness in what happens to be years.

Jaehoon’s sure he would do anything to get back this feeling for the rest of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope the biggest jaehoon fan out there (val) enjoys this.


End file.
